Mitt Romney: Coal will "not be a four-letter word" in my administration

In an op-ed in the Columbus Dispatch today, Republican presidential candidate Mitt Romney criticized the work of the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and stated that, “In my administration, coal will not be a four-letter word.”

Another word with four letters that Romney is familiar with is cash, as in the bags of it he and his super PAC have received from the coal industry.

Alliance Coal CEO Joseph Craft donated $500,000 to the Romney-aligned Restore Our Future super PAC on January 17th of this year and gave $5,000 to Romney’s campaign committee, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Alliance has mining operations in five states.

Restore Our Future has also received $1 million from Bill Koch and his company, Oxbow Corporation, a large energy company with a coal mining operation that "supplies low sulfur, high BTU Elk Creek coal to utility and industrial customers throughout the United States." In January, Koch also donated $2,500 to Romney’s campaign committee.

Romney’s campaign has received $127,500 from coal mining interests so far this cycle.